Hobie Cat Forums

I took my AI out last weekend for the first time this summer and I had a lot of difficulty steering. I had to use two hands to stay on course and I had to use so much force that I had to turn around and come back to shore. The difficulty was equal on both tacks. I did not have the same difficulty before. Steering lines to rudder are both taut and tiller moves rudder easily with no wind load on boat. Anyone else run into this problem? Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks, William.

Did you have the rudder pulled down tight and cleated? Was the wind very strong and if so, did you furl the sail a bit?

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Nice pic Yes it was down and cleated and the wind was not strong enough to require reefing.

Gris. This is exactly the symptom you would see when the rudder begins to slip up (becomes more horizontal than vertical). That indicates a cleating problem.

If not, then your tiller arm may be binding on the hull or something else (the spring or pulley) when it's under load. It may be bent or loose.

Time to take out the hand mirror and trace things. Use a can of lube on all friction points

Two of you, and also a Hobie employee, have now all said the same thing- that the rudder was not cleated properly. I am beginning to doubt whether in fact it was. I hope that was the problem. I will give it another go and will let you know the results. I will also try some lube too. Thanks for the input! Cheers.

One other thing. If you have a hull with a cleat for the rudder up-line, make sure the up-line is free of the cleat.

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